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when news reached O'Neill and O'Donnell of the arrival of the Spanish fleet, under Don Juan d'Aguila, at Kinsale, they hastened south to join him, O'Donnell, with his habitual ardour, being first on the way. With a force of about 2,500 hardy men, he set out about the end of October, and reached Ikerrin, in Tipperary, where he purposed to await O'Neill. Finding his passage south barred by Sir George Carew and Lord St. Lawrence, he took advantage of a hard frost to pass by a cir- cuitous route across Slieve Felim, and by the Abbey of Owney to Groom, which he reached on the 23rd November, after a march of forty miles in one day. On 2 1st December he and O'Neill appeared before Kinsale with some 6,000 native foot and 400 horse, besides ^oo Spaniards from Castlehaven. Their eflFort on the morning of the 24th to raise the siege by an attack on Mountjoy's lines, was a failure, and the Spaniards were obliged to capitulate on the 2nd January. We are told that " O'Donnell was seized with great fury, rage, and anxiety of mind, so that he did not sleep or rest soundly for the space of three days and three nights afterwards." Desiring to seek further as- sistance from Philip IIL, he sailed with a few attendants, from Castlehaven on the 6th January 1602, and landed at Co- runna on the i6th. He was graciously received by Philip III. at Zamora, in Castile, was promised assistance in men and money, and desired to wait at Co- runna. The summer passed away with- out the royal promises being fulfilled, and heart-sick for his cause and country, he again resolved to visit the King. He set out for Valladolid, but fell sick at Simancas, and died on the 10th September 1 602, aged about 30. He was buried with royal honours in the monastery of St. Francis in Valladolid — a building long since demolished. O'Donnell, who had been the sword as O'Neill had been the brain of the Ulster confederacy, is said to have married a daughter of the Earl of Tyrone. He left no children, and his branch of the family is now believed to be ex- tinct. Mr. Wills pays the following tribute to his character : " O'Donnell, of all the Irishmen of his day, seems to have been actuated by a purpose independent of self-interest ; and though much of this is to be traced to a sense of injury and the thirst of a vindictive spirit, strongly impressed at an early age, and cherished for many years of suffering, so as to amount to an education ; yet, in the mingled motives of the human breast, it may be allowed that his hatred to the

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English was tempered and dignified with the desire to vindicate the honour and freedom of his country. And if we look to the fickleness, venality, suppleness, and want of truth which permanently charac- terizes the best of his allies in the strife — their readiness to submit and to rebel — O'Donnell's steady and unbending zeal, patience, caution, firmness, tenacity of purpose, steady consistency, and indefati- gable energy, may bear an honourable comparison with the virtues of any other illustrious leader whose name adorns the history of his time." '^ s^ m ^70*

O'Donnell, Rnry, Earl of Tircon- nell, younger brother of preceding, born in 1575, kept up a desultory warfare in the north for some months after the defeat at Kinsale, and Hugh's departure for Spain in 1602. In the autumn he and O'Conor Sligo were induced to submit to Lord Mount joy at Athlone,and were thereupon permitted to settle in their own territories. Next year he was commissioned to proceed against Sir Niall Garv, who had gone out into opposition to the Anglo-Irish power, and assumed the title of O'Donnell. After some skirmishes, Niall submitted ; and in June 1603 he and Rury proceeded to London to have their claims to precedency settled. Rury was made Earl of Tirconnell, and confirmed in his territories, except- ing the fishery at Ballyshannon and 1,000 acres contiguous. On his return to Ireland he was duly invested in Christ Church, Dublin, on 29th September. He married Brigid, daughter of the 12th Earl of Kil- dare. He was one of those who fled to the Continent with Hugh O'Neill in 1607, and died at Rome, 28th July 1608, aged 33, his remains being buried in the church of San Pietro di Montorio. His Countess remained in Ireland, and after his death married Viscount Kingsland. His brother Caffar died less than two months after him, and was buried beside him. [For further particulars of the flight of the Earls, see O'Neill, Hugh.] Several descendants of both branches of the O'Donnells, born on the Continent, distinguished themselves in the Spanish and Imperial services. ^^ '^4 269

O'Donnell, Hugh, surnamed " Ball- dearg" — (Red-spot — from a blood mark), a prominent character in the War of 1 689-'9 1 , was born in Donegal, in the middle of the 17th century. He was either a grandson of Caffar, brother of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, or a grand-nephew of Niall Garv. After serving several years in the Spanish army, where he rose to be a brigadier, he, in 1689, asked leave to enter James II.'s service, and on beingrefusedjthrewup his command and appeared in Ireland, where he was hailed 393